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Juliette Kayyem

In government, the academy, private sector and journalism, Juliette Kayyem has served as a national leader in America’s homeland security efforts.

Kayyem is founder of one of the few female-owned security businesses and provides strategic advice to a range of companies in technology, risk management, mega-event planning and venture capital. As a faculty member at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, she teaches new leaders in emergency management and national security and has authored several books on homeland security.

Kayyem has spent over 15 years managing complex policy initiatives and organizing government responses to major crises in both state and federal government. Most recently, she was President Obama’s Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security. There she played a pivotal role in major operations including handling of the H1N1 pandemic and the BP Oil Spill response, as well as organizing major policy efforts in immigration reform and community resiliency. Before that, she was Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s homeland security advisor where she guided regional planning, the state’s first interoperability plan, and oversaw the National Guard. She has also served as a member of the National Commission on Terrorism, a legal advisor to US Attorney General Janet Reno, and a trial attorney and counselor in the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department. She is the recipient of many government honors, including the Distinguished Public Service Award, the Coast Guard’s highest medal awarded to a civilian.

A journalist and commentator, she has a weekly segment on Boston’s public radio station WGBH. For nearly eight days straight, she provided non-stop analysis during the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings for CNN, where she continues to serve as a security analyst. In 2013, she was named the Pulitzer Prize finalist for her hard-charging editorial columns in the Boston Globe focused on ending the Pentagon’s combat exclusion rule against women, a policy that was changed that year.

She is a board member of Mass Inc., the Boston 2024 Olympic Committee, the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations. Described as a “rising star” of the Democratic party, in 2014 Kayyem was a candidate for Governor of Massachusetts. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, and the mother of three children, she is married to First Circuit Court of Appeals Judge David Barron. Her memoir –The Education of a Security Mom – will be published by Simon and Shuster in 2015.

2015

"... [M]ost of us live in the real world, where actions have consequences for the rest of us. And that means not just those disappointed immigrants who believed they were beginning the process of securing citizenship. It also includes those who work at DHS and the people that depend on them."

"And anyone who follows the news will be aware of the litany of potential threats to an event being watched by millions of people across the globe — ISIS, a lone wolf terrorist, a deranged individual with too much weaponry, cyber villains, enemies of the state with weaponized drones, an unvaccinated kid with the measles....But stopping all bad things from happening can't possibly be the sole standard for judging these efforts. Instead, the less understood idea of response planning should be seen as of primary importance."

"So much activity, and there isn't even a snowflake in the sky. But that's how it is done. Incident commands, assets predeployed and ready, weather assessments that change hourly, and then, ultimately, the decision that the kids will be home. Sometimes it's obvious; sometimes, it's just a calculated guess."

2014

"Dual-use has the benefit of being both efficient and effective. The firefighter who shows up at a burning building does not wonder, at that moment, whether an arsonist or a careless cigarette smoker is to blame. She just wants to put the fire out. The medics at the Boston Marathon finish line had no idea whether the carnage came from a terrorist attack or a gas explosion. They just implemented their well-honed plans for treating a sudden surge in injuries."

"For government to function effectively in the future, it must commit to changes in how we assess information. The primary focus should be on more comprehensive training for public employees on how to gather and most effectively access the information they need. Often there are antiquated and bureaucratic barriers to information sharing that serve no purpose and hinder the capacity of government to interpret different pieces of data from different sources."

2013

"The media-savvy, talking-point-hungry, Twitter-obsessed, Facebook-friending world that Shinseki is part of now doesn't interest him. Shinseki's reticence has its quaint appeal, but it doesn't represent the attitude of newer veterans, the 2.5 million Americans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. More mobile, technological, opinionated, and media-friendly, these veterans aren't particularly tolerant of the problems the VA faces today."

"...[G]overnment can also promote the freedom from harm. Past experiences in Oklahoma are illustrative. The state, no stranger to tornadoes, does not legally require safe rooms or underground shelters. Indeed, after a similar massive tornado struck Moore in 1999, disaster funds were focused solely on helping homeowners to rebuild what they lost; houses were constructed in exactly the same manner as before."

"...World War II's Ghost Army, a unit of handpicked G.I.s whose sole function was to deceive the Germans about the strength of America's military presence. Using rubber tanks, sound effects, and illusions of manpower, this group of young magicians tricked the Germans into believing they knew America's true plans."

"...[T]he Arctic Council agreed to let nations that, at last look at the map, are not located anywhere near the Arctic, join as observers. It may seem a diplomatic nicety, but it is the recognition that the Arctic Council nations no longer have a monopoly on the region. China, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, and Singapore are on a hunt for more energy and have their eyes on the waning polar ice caps."

"...[T]he leak wasn't just an inside-the-Beltway jab at political enemies, and the story that resulted wasn't about infighting in the national security staff. The information cut to the heart of how America fights its enemies and the resources it uses to do so. An agent of ours had infiltrated a terrorist cell. He is no longer in the inner circle. The leaker may be to blame. And the investigation that has everyone up in arms was completely justified."

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We host a busy schedule of events throughout the fall, winter and spring. Past guests include: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, former Vice President Al Gore, and former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev.